Thank you for visiting our forum. As a guest, you have limited access to view some discussion and articles. By joining our free community, you will be able to view all discussions and articles, post your own topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, participate in Pick'Em contests and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today!!

We actually only ended up signing 31 today. The last guy signed a paper that wasn't a real NLI and is going to Blueshirt. Giving us 32 total new players for August.

Can't wait to see the vols and Derrell (??) on the field at Willie B on November 1; I hope some frustration can be taken out on that Saturday!! Would also be nice to have a complete game against the vols without a knee injury to anyone!!

Can't wait to see the vols and Derrell (??) on the field at Willie B on November 1; I hope some frustration can be taken out on that Saturday!! Would also be nice to have a complete game against the vols without a knee injury to anyone!!

Should be a good game, but I expect a 10 point win by SC. Not one of the games I am pointing to on our schedule as a possible upset like I did last offseason.

It is crazy how good I've been at picking ya'lls results before the season. I predicted 10-2 for 2012 with losses @LSU and @UF.

Last year I predicted 11-1 with a loss @TN.

Next year I am predicting 11-1 with a loss @Auburn.

That is THE game but, of course, each game is important! Although I would like to see a perfect season, if this scenario plays out, the Cocks will be in the ATL for a chance at the SEC championship and possibly a berth in the new playoff system!!

My understanding is that "blueshirting" is when you invite a preferred player to campus as a walk-on...with the expectation that he will be given a scholarship later.

Exactly. The player is not bound at all to TN right now and we are not bound to him yet.

He will show up to campus in August with nothing but a promise of a scholarship at that moment. He can then be counted toward the 2015 class.

The snag is the player has to not have had an OV, can't have been visited by our coaches and can't have been called directly more than once from our coaches.

The only player we have that fits that bill is Jashon Robertson who is best friends with Jalen Hurd. But no one will officially say he is the blue shirt because our coaches don't want other teams going after him knowing that he isn't bound to TN.

That is THE game but, of course, each game is important! Although I would like to see a perfect season, if this scenario plays out, the Cocks will be in the ATL for a chance at the SEC championship and possibly a berth in the new playoff system!!

Seems like UGA at home, at UF, at Aub and @Clemson are your toughest games.

I think you can make it out of those with 1 loss for sure. 2 at the most.

The loss of Thomas did ease the numbers crunch, though. For the past few months, reporters covering the Vols have tried to figure out how Tennessee could add as many as 35 scholarship players and not violate the SEC and NCAA rules that allow only 25 new scholarship players a year and 85 total scholarship players at any given time. Jones said the Vols were in constant contact with the SEC office to ensure they didn't sign too many. Some of the players who enrolled in January were counted against the 2013 total, so that eased the strain. Meanwhile, the Vols elected not to sign commitment Orlando Brown Jr. because of academic concerns. Brown, a massive offensive lineman from Duluth, Ga., instead signed with Oklahoma.
Still, Tennessee appears to have 32 incoming scholarship players for a class that Knoxville News-Sentinel beat writer Evan Woodbery calculated can only contain 31. (Like most programs, Tennessee would not release the actual number of players currently on scholarship. That number could also change throughout the offseason.) Asked by reporters on Wednesday how he planned to squeeze in everyone, Jones hinted that players might delay enrollment. This is known as grayshirting in the recruiting world. A player would delay his enrollment until January and count against the 2015 class. Tennessee may also attempt to "blueshirt" some players. To do that, a school can't officially recruit a player, meaning he can't take an official visit and coaches can't make in-home visits. The school also can't sign the player to an NLI, so any other school may still recruit him and offer a scholarship. He would essentially have to walk on and then earn a scholarship, but such a player would probably walk on with the understanding that a scholarship was forthcoming. If Tennessee is attempting to blueshirt anyone for the class of '14, coaches aren't revealing names. If they did, other schools would swoop in quickly with scholarship offers.

Does anybody have a link to Herbstreit talking about ut's class yesterday? I heard he called them out somewhat on espn but I can't find anything about it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ericvol2096

Would make me sad , love Kirk.

Wish I could find it too; however, from what I have heard is that Kirk was concerned about players that may have been offered scholarship starting at a later date. I guess referring to the blueshirt scenario but from what I understand Butch only blueshirted one or two players. Is that correct, Eric?

From what I heard he was saying it was blatant disregard for the rules and this will be something that has to now be addressed moving forward...said something about why even have a limit if you allow a school to go over by this many. Again this was hearsay..but I tend to agree if it is what was said

Wish I could find it too; however, from what I have heard is that Kirk was concerned about players that may have been offered scholarship starting at a later date. I guess referring to the blueshirt scenario but from what I understand Butch only blueshirted one or two players. Is that correct, Eric?

1 blueshirt and 1 grayshirt.

1 guy signed with Oklahoma cause we wouldn't take his signature due to his probable inability to get admitted into school.

Another really good read on our class and how hard our coaches have worked.

From what I heard he was saying it was blatant disregard for the rules and this will be something that has to now be addressed moving forward...said something about why even have a limit if you allow a school to go over by this many. Again this was hearsay..but I tend to agree if it is what was said

If Kirk went this route, I agree with him; however, Butchy showed some moxie by finding what some would consider "loopholes" in being able to use EEs to count back onto previous year class numbers and the whole blueshirting rules to his advantage to maximize their class. Nonetheless, I would think that those in k-ville would be a bit worried about being so brazen given what has happened to their program post-Fulmer and would demand that Butchy be somewhat more conservative in his approach!!!